The second family member of the GMA T.33 lineup arrives with a bespoke look matched to a thunderous V12.
With Gordon Murray Automotive’s flagship T.50 hypercar having reached final sign off, attention has turned to its next project: the T.33. More specifically, the firm has revealed the T.33 Spider, which follows the coupe version as a lightweight, V12-engined roadster to mark what could be the combustion engine’s final years.
The arrival of the GMA T.33 Spider should come as no surprise, with Gordon Murray and his team having been nothing but open when it comes to the company’s product strategy: ‘We always said there would be three T.33 models: the coupe, an open car and a performance model (the S). The Spider is the second of this trio.’
It is also, to these eyes at least, the prettiest of the GMA cars to date, although at £1.8m (AUD$3.33m) it’s almost $750,000 more than the coupe – this is due to price increases the team hasn’t been able to absorb and the requirement to spend a further $37+m on crash testing to meet Federal requirements in the US.
With T.50 production starting last month following some supply chain issues, the T.33 coupe will follow the ‘fan car’ down the GMA line before the 100 Spiders enter production in 2024.
The new GMA T.33 Spider isn’t a coupe with the roof simply removed, the changes are comprehensive. Every carbonfibre body panel from the centre line of the front wheel back is new, and the rake of the windscreen will also be tweaked to aid visibility and ingress and egress. The result is a delicate, simple and very pure design, clearly evocative of Gordon Murray’s passion for 1960’s sports car racers such as Ferrari’s iconic 250LM.
Shorter B-pillar buttresses provide the Spider with a more distinctive look over the coupe: ‘With the coupe’s buttresses the Spider didn’t look distinctive enough. It looked like a coupe with the roof open, not a distinct model’ explains Murray. The Spider also required a new rear deck to replace the coupe’s glass engine cover, which also required for a new exhaust system and engine cooling too, resulting in two pairs of chimney stacks for the engine and exhaust system positioned on the engine deck, with additional engine cooling achieved through a discrete opening around the V12’s snorkel-like air inlet. Other body changes include a redesign of the hinged luggage panniers that are concealed between the rear of the door and ahead of the rear wheel.
Transforming the T.33 into a Spider are two removable carbon composite roof panels stored in the front luggage compartment. The rear window behind the passenger compartment can also be opened, sliding into the body structure between the passenger cell and engine bulkhead.
At just 1135mm high, the T.33 Spider is lower than an A110, McLaren Artura and anything else in series production. It’s only six-centimetres wider than the French sportscar, too, and a few millimetres longer than Porsche’s Boxster. As an exercise in packaging it’s unrivalled.
GMA’s iStream Ultralight carbon monocoque structure underpins the Spider as it does in the T.33 coupe. With the Spider’s requirements in terms of stiffness and rigidity leading the tub’s design for both models, the Spider’s overall weight increase over the coupe is a mere 18kg (GMA provides a claimed dry weight of 1108kg for its latest model). There’s no additional bracing required for the open car, only some small changes to the construction of the carbon panels that are formed around the aluminium tubular structure.
Its suspension retains double wishbones in each corner and forgoes active dampers, with the rear suspension mounted directly to the transmission casing utilising GMA’s flexible Inclined Axis Shear Mounting (IASM) to isolate vibration without compromising dynamics. Electro-hydraulic steering and carbon ceramic brakes are carried across from the coupe, with the 19 and 20-inch front and rear wheels fitted with off the shelf Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres – unlike most hypercars, the dynamics have been engineered around existing tyres as opposed to relying on a bespoke compound, drastically reducing lead-times when replacements are required.
GMA’s T.33 models might forgo the headline grabbing ground effect fan of the T.50, but the all-aluminium Cosworth GMA.2 V12 is very much in attendance and the numbers remain staggering: 3.9-litres, 447kW at 10,250rpm, 451Nm of torque at 6750 with 75 per cent available from 2500rpm, 90 per cent maintained between 4500 and 10,500rpm with the redline set at 11,100rpm – like the T.33 coupe, redline is set 1000rpm lower than the T.50.
Fed through its ram air effect intake that sits above the cockpit, the V12 weighs just 178kg, with its Xtrac-developed six-speed H-pattern manual gearbox the lightest of its kind at only 82kg. A six-speed seamless shift auto is also offered. Expect a 0-100km/h in the low twos and a near-320km/h top speed.
Externally the T.33 Spider has a lithe and light look, and that’s carried over inside. Carbonfibre is used to manufacture the seats, but they can be trimmed in leather and Alcantara, and the rear bulkhead is colour coded to the exterior paint, of which four themes have been curated by the GMA design team including one palette that acknowledges Murray’s penchant for a tropical shirt. Exterior colours are then matched to interior hues, and you can of course have any colour you wish.
Regardless of the colours chosen, the cockpit remains a functional place, with carbonfibre and solid pieces of billet aluminium machined to create the switchgear and controls. Wireless connectivity provides the entertainment if, for some reason, a naturally aspirated V12 doesn’t do it for you.